A Second Life
by Animangod
Summary: Real! Fai becomes a Phantump so he can remain by his twin's side. They befiriend Youou.
1. Chapter 1

"Good evening, sir," Officer Daidouji greeted the frail man.

"Good evening, Officer… I'm sorry to bother you so late, but my brother hasn't returned with my sons, and I'm getting worried. He said he was going to look after them while I recovered and yesterday, he said he would be taking them from a walk to get them some fresh air and I haven't heard from any of them since then."

"Understood. What do your boys look like?"

"They're twins, blond hair and blue eyes and the last time I saw them, they were wearing their white fur coats."

"Alright, I'll organize a search party. Do you have any idea where your brother said he was taking your sons?"

"No, but Fai loves trees and plants, so he might have gone into the forest."

"Right...We'll start there. It looks like you're not feeling well, so if you want, you can stay here, and I'll let you know as soon as we have any real news."

"Thank you, Officer."

 _Shiftry's large fans generate awesome gusts of wind at a speed close to 100 feet per second. The whipped-up wind blows anything away. This Pokémon chooses to live quietly deep in forests._

Yuui couldn't protect Fai from their uncle - all he managed to do was pound on his leg with tiny fists telling him to stop hurting his brother. He wasn't sure when the Shiftry showed up but he was glad that it used its fans and knocked their uncle away from choking Fai and telling him they were better off dead.

It had gone away now and he was just thankful it didn't want to hurt him as he grabbed his brother's battered body. He held him close to him as he waddled over to an old stump, leaning Fai against it.

"I'm so sorry Brother...if I was stronger maybe I could have stopped Uncle before he hurt you."

Yuui clung to him, even as his body went limp, even as the Shiftry returned much later with some berries, and he was so grateful and he ate some and tried to get Fai to eat, but Fai wasn't there anymore.

He cried into Fai as he realized and begged him not to leave him, and cried and begged until he fell asleep, holding onto him.

 _According to old tales, these Pokémon are stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest._

"Madam; bad news," one of the searchers reported.

"What is it?" she asked.

"A Phantump has just been sighted."

"Only one?" she asked for clarification.

"Yes madam," the searcher nodded.

"Follow the Phantump," she directed to her search Pokemon. She wasn't sure if this was one of the same children she was looking for but she now knew she was also looking for a child's body. "In the meantime, keep looking for Skitty holes … know too many kids that get lost chasing after them."

 _Mightyena travel and act as a pack in the wild. The memory of its life in the wild compels the Pokémon to obey only those Trainers that it recognizes to possess superior skill._

Yuui was asleep so he didn't hear when a Mightyena stepped into the same area until he heard a low noise and saw a giant dog and he didn't know if he should be worried for his or his dead brother's sake.

He knew it was probably hopeless but he spoke up anyway, "D-don't hurt us."

The Mightyena came over to them and as he got close, he laid down next to him and let out a soft bark. Yuui was confused by the Mightyena behavior until he heard noise in the bushes nearby. He was afraid it might be someone bad but when he looked up to see Officer Daidouji appear, there was some relief. He recognized her as a good person.

"Are you boys okay?"

Yuui shook his head. "I am. Shify saved me."

"Let's get you to the station, okay? Your father is very worried."

"What about Brother?"

"He can return too. His body should still be able to tell a story of what happened."

"Brother...Brother won't be coming back… will he?"

Officer Daidouji kneeled next to Yuui, fresh tears staining the young boy's cheeks. "No, he won't...he was too badly injured to stay in the same form as you."

Yuui sniffled hearing the news, and used his oversized sleeve to rub at his eyes and nose.

"Just because he doesn't have blond hair anymore, doesn't mean he isn't around anymore…" she said to reassure him.

"Huh?" he moved his sleeve away and looked at her confused.

There was a sad but gentle smile on her face. "I'm pretty sure he became a Pokemon."

"How does Brother do that?"

"I don't think your Brother wanted you to be alone out here."

Yuui looked over at Fai's lifeless body, "uh-uh… we promise .. always look out for each other.. Always together."

"I'm sure your brother knew he was close to death and just found a different way to be with you. In fact, he helped us find you."

"He did? Where… where's Brother?"

There was a low cry in the trees before a shiny Phantump appeared out of the canopy. With icy blue eyes and blood red leaves and ghastly pale wood, it stood out among even Phantumps.

"Fai?" Yuui asked, just to be sure.

The Phantump made a tiny noise before holding out one paw. Yuui remembered they'd walk holding hands, and that would have been the hand he would have held. "It is you. Oh, Fai. Are you cold? Are you hungwy? Shify gave me food for you but you were already gone."

"Would you like me to hang onto your brother's previous body?" She offered. "So you can hang onto his new hand…"

Yuui thought about that, "You promise to take care of him?"

"I promise," she smiled softly at Yuui. "Let's get back to town."

"And then - and then …" Yuui was doing his best to explain everything that happened since his uncle took him and Fai in, but it was a lot more talking than he was used to and his throat now hurt from using it so much. "And then Brother sounded like this as he cried for Uncle to stop. But Uncle didn't until Shify come and wave him away. Shify leaved but came back with berries and I tried feeding Brother some but he wasn't there anymore."

Fai made low wailing noises, trying to communicate.

Yuui stopped to ask if he could have something to drink.

"Of course." Heading to the door, she called out, "Youou, would you be a Deerling and get us something to drink in here?"

There was a low grunt and a few minutes later, a small boy walked inside with his arms full of drinks.

"I didn't know what they like so I got em a selection. Is that okay?"

"Of course. Thank you."

Youou set the bottles of water, soda and lemonade down on the table before looking at the other boy, "hello. Hopefully these will taste good and make you feel better," Kurogane said to Yuui.

"Th-thank you," Yuui said sheepishly.

"Sure thing." He then looked up at Officer Daidouji. "Anything else, Tomoyo?"

"Not yet. You can go read your comic book for now."

."Okay then." He waved bye to both Yuui and to his Phantump brother before going over and giving Tomoyo a brief hug before heading out of the room.

Yuui was quiet for a bit as Youou walked out before looking up at Tomoyo, "is he yours?"

"A friend of mine's actually. His mother and I went to school together. They live two towns away now but I still sometimes see them, especially him. He's a little climber, and knows most of the nearby forestry area like his own playground. When they heard there were missing kids, he and his father immediately came over to help look."

Yuui let out a tiny little hiccup. "H-he seems nice."

"He does, doesn't he?" Tomoyo smiled gently.

She let him drink as much as he wanted before she continued asking him about what happened.

"Did you see your Uncle afterwards?"

"Uh-uh," Yuui said as he shook his head, and Fai made wailing noises as he waved his little arms.

Tomoyo let him say everything he wanted to before writing down a note on her pad to ask Sakura to listen to the recording of what Fai had said. She could understand the voices of Pokemon after all.

"Alright. I've got that all down. Now… would you mind telling me what you remember next?"

"Shify was nearby… and … and I was telling Brother not to leave me, and then suddenly your big doggy was there and he came over and lay down beside me. And then you showed up and I felt better because it wasn't Uncle coming to finish me off."

Fai had his own story to tell, and of course, Tomoyo listened, even if she couldn't understand him currently herself.

When the interview ended, Yuui floated over and rode tucked next to his brother's head. As they we're going out to meet with their own father, Fai spotted the boy from before and used his little paw to poke at Yuui to look and it looked like the kid from before was reading a book and eating from a bag of Poffins. They were yellow with green sprinkles. Seeing the food, Yuui's stomach grumbled and he shyly held it.

Tomoyo heard and smiled at it before squatting a little to be closer to Yuui's level, "Would you like to talk to Youou more while I go get your father?" Fai nodded, and tried to drag his brother along. So Yuui quietly went along with Fai, and Tomoyo smiled as Fai floated up and Yuui climbed onto the seat next to Youou. Tomoyo left the three together as she went to meet up with the twins' father, a familiar face talking with him.

"Good morning," she greeted the two men.

"Ah, morning, Miss,"

"Good morning, Officer."

"So you two know each other?" Tomoyo asked.

"Just getting acquainted, actually."

"That's exactly what your sons are doing right now," Tomoyo said with a soft yet sad smile.

Yuui looked at the book Youou was reading and saw it was full of pictures and words and he just reached into the the bag of Poffins and ate one.

"What're you eating?" Yuui piped up after a little bit.

Youou looked over and saw he had an attentive audience. "Sour Poffins. Do you guys want some?"

Fai reached out, trying to say yes please but it came out a tiny little cry.

"Here you go," Kurogane said as he slowly fed Fai the Poffin. "Help you grow stronger and smarter."

Yuui watched, interested as Fai ate the Poffin, before the other boy looked at him, "you want one too?"

"Um...they're… really sour aren't they?"

"Ah."

"Do… you have any that'll make me cuter?"

"A Sweet tooth, eh?" The boy dug in his pockets for one of his other bags of Poffins and pulled out a Red Poffin with blue sprinkles. "Try this."

Yuui slowly nibbled on the Poffin. He thought it might taste like what Pokemon kibble looked like it would taste, but it was actually rather sweet and just a little dry.

"You like?" Youou asked.

Yuui nodded a little, "did you get somewhere?" Yuui quietly asked.

"Only the berries to make em...My Mama runs a Poffin shop when she's feeling okay, and I get to be her helper sometimes. So she doesn't have to, I gather lots of berries for Mama so she just has to worry about being healthy."

Yuui nodded a little, "Our Papa is usually sick but he normally gets better after a while.."

"Yeah? My Dad's rarely sick… He's a policeman so even when he is, I bet he would try and hide it from Mama."

Yuui sniffled a little and rubbed his face with his sleeve, "you a nice family."

Youou reached over and patted the other boy on the head, "you too, you're nice, too."

Yuui looked up and saw the smile aimed at him. "Th-thanks…"

Youou nodded before he noticed Fai had grabbed the bag of Poffins he'd been snacking from.

"Hey, who said you could have all of those?"

Fai looked a bit sad but set the bag back down and Youou feeling a little bad, took out a couple of them and put them in his other Poffin bag and found some more Sweet ones and stuck them in before holding it out to the Phantump.

"Okay now you can have the bag back… don't forget to share some with your human."

Yuui blinked a little. "You… don't know?"

"Hm?" Youou looked curious and like he really didn't know.

"This is my Brother. He got turned into a Pokemon so he could stay with me."

"Eh?" Youou exclaimed in surprise. He then used the back of his hand as though to test for fever, "well your head feels normal so you must be telling the truth."

Yuui pouted a little, "why don't you want to believe me?"

"It has nothing to do with you…" Youou told him immediately, because it didn't and he didn't want the other kid to feel bad, "I've just never heard of a human soul becoming a Pokemon, that's all." He then paused "maybe grown ups only say something about it if they think you are ready to hear it. See… your, ah… your Brother here … the town I'm from, everyone knows you clip Phantump green leaves off, like getting a haircut but for leaves, and boil them up to make a Cure-All medicine. There's not a word said about them having kid souls or however it works."

"Wai- so you mean… you live in a town where.. People… people would really like … Brother?"

"Well, yeah...I mean, he obviously has some different coloration than most, but that just makes him extra special. Don't you think so?"

Yuui nodded. "Of course Brother is extra special. He's my twin after all."

"Well… you two should be a little easier to tell apart now… I mean he's been eating the Sour Poffins and you ate the Sweet ones."

Yuui and Fai were both surprised by what Youou used to tell them apart. Instead of one of them was still in a human body and the other now in a Pokemon body, it was what they ate. It was a kind gesture. Yuui blushed as he tried looking down to hide his pink face. Fai meanwhile floated over and did his best to give Youou's head a hug, still clinging to the bag of Poffins he had been given permission to keep.

Youou reached up and gently rubbed Fai's forehead, getting an affectionate noise out of him and surprised eyes from Yuui who looked up at the scene.

Youou noticed. "You want pets too?" Youou asked although didn't wait fully for an answer before he reached for Yuui's forehead to give him a gentle ruffle.

Yuui began to say something but paused as he felt the hand that had first touched him as though to make sure he was not delusional was now touching him in a comforting way.

"You like?" Youou asked.

Yuui nodded a little and grabbed for the hand as though that would keep it there. Youou smiled at him, as he continued to gently ruffle the area, and do something similar to Fai as well. They barely noticed when their fathers were standing there, looking on as Youou ignored his book in favor of making the boys happy, and both of them were absorbed in watching as Youou would imitate different Pokemon he'd seen and give them hints and Yuui would quietly speak up when he thought he had the answer. Fai would chime in as well but of course it didn't sound like human speak anymore. That didn't stop Youou from responding to him, as though there was no difference.

It was Fai that saw first as he was on top of Yuui's head and perked up which caused the other two to look at what Fai was looking at, and noticed that their fathers and Officer Daidouji were there now.

"Yuui, Fai. Are you ready to head home?"

Fai looked down at Yuui who looked up to meet his gaze. Fai floated down enough that he could hang onto Yuui's hand as he slowly climbed off the bench, and moved towards his Father with his brother in hand.

Youou watched them go to their father before heading to his own father's side with a leap so his father would catch him and seat him on his shoulder and he could hug his father's head. Youou smiled at the twin brothers from his spot, "Let's play again, okay?"

The twins nodded they liked that idea, and so soon Youou and his father left, however their father needed a little extra moment, growing unsteady on his feet. So with his cane and the twins' help they led him to the bench where Yuui quietly gasped as he grabbed Youou's book off the bench and held it up toward Tomoyo while their father sat down.

"Why don't you keep it for now? I'm sure he'll be back for it soon enough."

Yuui lowered it as he held it towards his chest and looked towards his father, checking on him, before looking at the friendly officer, "we give back to him and we get to play with him then."

Tomoyo nodded. "If you have that book, I'm sure you will meet him again."


	2. Chapter 2

"Morning, Officer."

"Ah, good morning…" Tomoyo smiled. "How are your boys doing?"

"That's just it… I tucked them in last night… and this morning, they had already left. They left a drawing - which makes me think they're attempting to make it to their friend's place in Cure-All Town."

"I understand. I'll put out the word that if any of my fellow officers happen to see them, to safely escort them."

"Thank you. After what they've gone through, I just want them to be able to be safe and happy."

"I think every loving father would want that for his children. We'll do all we can for your boys."

"Thank you so much, Officer."

 _When this Pokémon senses danger, a sweet fluid oozes from the tip of its head. The taste of it disgusts bird Pokémon._

"I'm tired of walking Brother… let's find a lake or something and get some water," Yuui encouraged. He wasn't sure how long they'd been walking but it felt like all day.

Fai floated above the treeline and looked about for some water, before coming back down and holding his brother's hand as he led him to the nearby lake he saw.

Yuui smiled as he saw the water's edge and went to it, disturbing the Surskit on the water surface. As they skittered further away from the child, sweet liquid came out of their yellow needle like top, and rested on the water making it have a sweet aftertaste as Yuui and Fai began to drink some of it up.

As the water skaters came back around, they began to swarm around. Yuui grabbed his brother's hand, hoping they were friendly.

Instead of attacking them, they were shooting streams of water at something else.

 _When it comes across enemies or potential prey, this Pokémon smashes its water-bubble-covered head into them._

The Surskit seemed in an eager frenzy to scare off the new company, making shrieks between blasting water from the top of their head.

Fai made a noise at Yuui and he nodded, deciding it was better not to get between the feuding Pokemon.

Pulling his brother closer to protect him, Yuui ducked under the shoots of water as he made it away from the lake.

As he left with Fai, he looked at the three legged spider. Dewpider. He wondered if it was a territory fight, but didn't stay long enough to find out.

Safe from the lake battle, Fai floated to rest on top of Yuui's head and hug it as Yuui walked for them. They wondered how long it would be but since they'd already set out, wanted to finish what they started.

 _If it has sunshine and water, it doesn't need to eat, because it can generate energy from the leaves on its back._

Yuui was tired. Why wasn't the Cure-All town closer? Yuui pulled his coat closer as he looked around the forest. He wanted to sleep, but he wanted to make it through the forest. Youou could, he reminded himself. If Youou can, then you can make it through too, Yuui told himself.

Worried for Yuui, Fai patted Yuui's shoulder before he took his bag of Poffins and floated away to look for a Pokemon that could help Yuui.

Yuui wandered a little as though he might find berries or mushrooms to eat while his brother searched.

Fai came across a Skiddo drinking from a small stream. He remembered they were people friendly so went up to the goat.

He was a little nervous about going up to the goat without his brother there, but he hoped it'd be nice enough to help them. Especially if he offered it one of the Poffins - maybe it would be more inclined to help them.

"Will you please help Brother?" Fai asked.

The Skiddo looked up from the stream to the Pokemon in front of her.

"Brother?" The Skiddo asked.

"Brother is over there." Fai pointed with his free arm. "Brother and I are trying to get to Cure-All Town, where this nice boy is… we need to return his book to him."

Yuui was lonely and hungry and tired as he sat down on the forest floor. He hadn't had any luck finding food, not even a Paras to steal the mushrooms off its back. Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the undergrowth and he wondered if it was that nice Shiftry from before but instead a flicker of fire that danced like a candle's flame. A cold cooing sound beckoned him to follow but he was just too tired and his brother wasn't there with him. Surely he should wait close by so they could go together.

He wrapped tighter into his coat to fight off the night chill as he waited for Fai to return. He barely noticed when a body as large as him came walking over. It was Fai who called for him that got Yuui back up to his feet, and he began to slouchingly walk more towards his goal.

He only got to the trees and shrubs before he nearly toppled over and the similar sized creature leaned into him to help Yuui fall onto it.

Fai helped as much as he could, to get Yuui safely on the Skiddo's back. And when Yuui, barely conscious, clutched at the Pokemon's horns, Fai tucked himself between the two as soon the Skiddo took off.

Toriho had gotyen word that the twins were missing again, but the surprising news was they were trying to make it to their town on their own.

Youou had been out gathering berries at the time the news arrived so when he got back to the house with his baskets of berries for the shop, he was a bit surprised when his father wasn't there anymore.

"Did Father have to go somewhere?" he asked as he set down the baskets and went to work sorting them.

"He's out helping the others patrol the area."

"Why so early? I thought he had work later today."

"You remember those boys you helped look for?"

"Yeah - they're okay, right?"

"Apparently they decided to try and come visit...So he went out to make sure they don't run into any trouble on the way over."

"I wanna help," Youou said.

"Right now, staying in town will be the best help…"

"But…"

"They're coming all this way, so someone really should stick around, just in case they make it all by themselves."

Youou frowned some - he knew his mother was right, but he wanted to go climb into the trees and see if he could find them. But someone should wait here, and he did know what they looked like so it wouldn't be hard to spot them once they made it to town.

"I'll help you make Poffins…they liked the ones I gave them so... "

"Thank you, Youou."

It's not what he really wanted right now, but he knew it'd be helpful and make them happy once they got here. He just didn't want to sit around and do nothing when he could be doing something to help out. He could sit around later. So he went back to sorting the berries and eventually filled the baskets partially up with berries for the two brothers. One basket to prepare Poffins for Yuui and the other for Fai.

He spent the afternoon with his mother, making the different Poffins and then bagging them up for the brothers, so they could each have their own bag this time. He remembered Yuui had the sweet tooth, and left out sour and bitter berries from his Poffins, while Fai seemed to prefer those but hadn't shown any animosity toward the others. So his was mostly the Sour Poffins with a few others in there for a little variety.

 _Altaria sings in a gorgeous soprano. Its wings are like cotton clouds. This Pokémon catches updrafts with its buoyant wings and soars way up into the wild blue yonder._

As it grew darker and there was still no sign of the twin brothers, Kurogane wandered around town, and climbed on top of the tallest roof instead of trees like a tailless Aipom, looking for any sight of his friends.

A little worried about him sitting up there all night, his mother went home and got a blanket for him and sent her Altaria to join him up there and bring him the blanket. Her Altaria took the blanket and flew up to the rooftop, where it dropped the blanket on top of Youou's head.

He slowly pulled it off only to discover his mother's pokemon nestling next to him and wrapping a cottony wing around him. He wrapped his legs in the blanket as he murmured a soft thanks and leaned a little into the Altaria. The Altaria softly hummed in a low soprano, keeping the boy company.

With Altaria watching over him, Tsubame felt a little better and went back indoors to wait for her family to return home.

Hours passed. Eventually, Youou began to go in and out of dozing as he tried his best to stay awake and look out for the twins. Altaria continued to keep a wing around him so when he jerked back awake, he didn't fall off the roof.

As morning came about and the sun still below the horizon, Altaria lifted its head and looked about, causing Youou to stir and rub at his eyes with his head rested against Altaria before growing more alert. He looked about with Altaria and thought he saw a Pokemon in the distance heading into town. It was a bit far to make out in the dark so he took off the blanket from his legs and began to stand up to go inspect.

Youou didn't quite expect Altaria to fly up and grab him by his collar. He caught the blanket with his foot as Altaria made sure he got down safely. When Altaria set him down, he grabbed the blanket and began to run towards where he saw the Pokemon shape coming into town. Altaria flew above, keeping an eye on her partner's son.

Youou didn't know what to expect - maybe a Stantler? No the shape was wrong, even for a small one. As he got closer, the Pokemon turned a little and was heading straight for him.

Maybe it was one of those friendly Pokemon that came to town looking for food. When he could make out more of the details, he was a bit surprised and slowed down.

Sure he saw Pokemon come into town and often they visited near his mother's shop looking for unguarded goods. But having one come at him with no guardian person and he didn't even have treats on him, that was a new experience. And as it got even closer, he noticed it had someone riding on it. And then a head stuck up from behind the Pokemon's head and the icy blue almost seemed to fluoresce. Youou knew immediately who it was then. "Fai, Yuui."

Youou walked even closer to them, and when they were close to crashing, the Skiddo slowed down.

Youou reached out for the Skiddo's head, remembering it was important to touch their horns, as it caused an emotional telepathy with the Pokemon and as he did, Altaria landed on his shoulders and perched there, just to keep a close eye on the new Pokemon and that they were no threat to Tsubame's kid.

Yuui was still asleep and managing to hang on to the Skiddo, his face buried in the neck of the grass Pokemon while Fai floated over with what was left of his bag to greet Youou, who promptly reached over and rubbed the top of Fai's head with his other hand.

"You made it," he said with a sleepy but proud grin.

Fai made a tiny noise at that before floating back over and making a small cry, asking for help.

"Don't worry - I show you where home is and then we get you two into a bed, okay?"

Fai made a small smile at that and stayed with Yuui, lightly poking him as Youou led the Skiddo to where he lived with his parents. The Skiddo easily followed along, and once he was home, the Skiddo kneeled and Youou and Fai managed to get Yuui off and thanked the Skiddo for helping out before he lifted Yuui as much as he could and tried to be real quiet as he entered. He carried Yuui as best he could and once in his room, he laid him in his bed and tucked the sheets around him and Fai, once Fai joined Yuui.

With Yuui and Fai safely there, he went to his mother's room, and squatted down so Altaria could sit on his mother's bed and cuddle with her now before borrowing the police receiver and went outside so he could walkie talkie his father and let him and the other officers know the twins made it there safely. He hoped they were all alright, since it had been a long time since they began searching.

"Father…?" he called into the police two way radio that his mother always had tuned in to Toriho's.


	3. Chapter 3

Yuui gasped when he awoke. He began to stir Fai, urging him to wake up - the last thing he remembered was the forest and now they were in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar house and they hadn't gotten to giving Youou his book back.

Fai let out a small whine, not wanting to wake up so soon. Yuui continued to nudge him until he was awake. He looked at Yuui even as he reached up with his paw to rub at his eyes.

Yuui quietly tried to tell him they had to go and find Youou, as he hadn't been awake when the two brought him there.

Fai began to convey that they were at Youou's place when Tsubame walked in.

"Oh good, you two are up. I was just coming in to let you know breakfast is ready."

Yuui looked at his brother and then the lady before quietly asking, "Is Youou here?"

"He is, although he's still sleeping. After you two arrived, it seems he was waiting for his Father to return from searching for you two."

"Is… is his Father okay?"

There was a gentle smile at that. "I'm sure he's okay. He has his partner with him."

Yuui seemed a little relieved to hear that. He wasn't sure what he would do should something bad happen to their own father, so he definitely didn't want something to happen to Youou's father either. Especially while out looking for them.

The sound of a door opening and the father spoke in a quiet voice, "I'm home."

"Why don't you two wash up and we'll meet downstairs?" Tsubame said with a kind smile.

Yuui and Fai nodded, and the two quickly smoothed the blankets before Tsubame showed them where the room was, before heading downstairs to check on her husband. Going down the stairs, she saw Toriho holding their son in one arm, Youou still clutching onto the receiver of hers.

"Did something happen while you were away?" she asked.

"Unfortunately."

Tsubame tenderly ran a hand against Youou's cheek.

"You remember Emeraude, right?" Toriho asked.

"Of course I do…"

There was a sad sigh, "Zagato now has a Yamask."

"Oh dear."

"The Litwick were out in numbers and she radioed she saw they were coming after a kid, so she got them to come after her instead. We stuck around so we could bring her back to town."

"Emeraude always loved children…" She said softly, gently brushing her son's hair from near his face.

"Yeah… at least she has a second chance to keep protecting kids," he replied, keeping his voice low.

"I'm sure you're tired but why don't you have a bite first? I'm sure those boys would like to see you made it back too."

"Sure.. I'll tease this one later," he said before carrying Youou to the boy's bedroom. When he got to the room, it looked like the other boys had tried to make the bed nice before breakfast, since it looked nicer than if it had been his son who'd slept there. He always forgot to make his bed.

He slowly tucked him in and carefully swapped out his wife's radio for his son's Dragonair plush before putting the radio away and washing up. He then came downstairs where Tsubame, Fai and Yuui were now seated at the table.

Yuui was quiet for a bit before he spoke up, "T-thank you for looking for us."

Fai said the same thing, or so Toriho assumed so.

Toriho smiled at the boys, and reached over to tussle their heads. "course. Glad you boys made it here safely."

Yuui blushed at that before looking down shyly. Even if it felt nice, he was still rather shy. Fai moved a paw to gently touch Yuui's hand and reassure him.

Between eating, Toriho and Tsubame asked about their trip over, and listened to what Fai and Yuui had to say. Of the two parents, Tsubame seemed to understand what Fai was saying.

* * *

When Youou slowly opened his eyes, he was a little surprised Fai and Yuui were both sitting on his bed and he was tucked in it. He was pretty sure the last time he saw them, he had tucked them into his bed.

"Hey," Youou greeted.

"H-hi," Yuui said shyly, "Um… you .. you forgot your book."

"Ah… wondered where I lost it."

"We brought it…" Yuui said as he pulled out the book for Youou

"Thanks," Youou murmured softly and he made a small smile at them, "glad you two made it here okay."

Yuui blushed at that and Fai made a small smile as he clutched his brother's hair.

"I, .. I heard you two were coming this way so Mother and I made you special Poffins."

"Really?" Yuui asked surprised.

"Uh huh," he said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Want me to get em?"

"I.. I'd like that," Yuui said shyly.

Youou nodded some and climbed out of bed. It took a moment to realize he had his plush Dragonair instead of his mom's radio. When he did, he tucked it back in which was as close to making his bed as he did.

Youou walked over to his dresser and opened the top drawer and pulled out three bags of Poffins. A full bag of Sweet based Poffins and a full bag of Sour based third was Sour based but was half eaten already.

Closing the drawer back up, he climbed back on his bed with the twins and handed out the full bags to them. The sweet ones to Yuui and the Sour ones to Fai.

Fai and Yuui both thanked him.

Youou softly rubbed their heads with a smile, "it was no trouble."

"You're a lot like your father."

"I-I spose…although he has more of Yuui's taste in Poffins." The comment flustered him a little as well as filled him with pride.

Yuui made a tiny smile at that.

"So how was the trip here? Did you have fun?" Youou asked curiously.

Fai nodded some.

"It was a little scary, but we made it here."

"What happened?" Youou asked.

"There was pokemon fighting with each other and we got lost and we had to find food by ourselves, and it got dark and Brother had to leave me to find help."

"You two must be super brave then," Youou said matter of factly. "Even though it was scary, you still braved on." He then smiled brightly at them, "I'm glad we're friends."


End file.
